Passing The Torch
by Northern-Southern Belle
Summary: After agreeing to leave Storybrooke to save herself and Henry from Storybrooke's latest threat, Emma's life as a PI in New York is interrupted by a call from Killian, begging her for her help. He's been framed by the latest big bad, the town is turning against him, and he feels only she can get everyone's heads on straight and save the day besides. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine!**

"Hello? Swan, are you there? We have to talk!"

Emma Swan heard the voice and nearly dropped her phone in trash under her desk. It had been a long time since she'd heard that voice. Honestly, she didn't think she'd ever hear it again, considering how they'd parted.

 _She'd always thought of herself as being able to handle anything, but after a villain had come to Storybrooke that had made one too many attempts on her life for her parents' comfort, Mary Margaret and David had decided it would be best to send her away, at least for a while._

" _You don't have to do that, you know?" She protested. "Why is this always your answer to everything, sending me away? Why can't you just let me stay here and fight? You know I can."_

" _Of course," David replied. "We know, but if something happened to you…or to Henry…we'd never be able to forgive ourselves."_

 _Emma had then turned to Killian who, of course, was by her side. "Are you hearing this?" She asked. "Tell them they're wrong about me! Tell them I can handle it."_

 _He'd just gazed at her with a pained look in his blue eyes. He'd been the one who'd found her after her latest attack, and it had nearly killed him to see her covered in so much blood with barely a pulse to speak of. "Killian, please tell them they don't need to send me away!"_

" _It might be best for now," he told her and kissed her hand. "It's Blackbeard we're dealing with and it's clear he knows where I'm vulnerable. He won't be defeated until you're out of the way. I agree with your parents that you have to leave. It won't be forever, though."_

" _But what if you forget about me while I'm gone?" Emma asked._

" _Oh, love," Killian replied as he took her in his arms and kissed her hair. "You know I could never do that."_

" _You better not," She said. "You'd better not."_

Then, she and Henry had headed off to New York and she'd gotten a private investigator's license to pay the bills. It wasn't as exhilarating as being a bailbondsperson, but there was something to be said for having a calmer life.

But now she supposed it wouldn't be so calm. Now home was calling back and as much as she loved it, there weren't many quiet days in Storybrooke.

"Love, are you still there? Did you answer? Talk to me!"

Staring down at her phone, Emma swallowed and said, "Sorry, Killian. I just…I'm a little surprised to hear from you out of nowhere like this. I thought I was banished."

"That was the plan until all the danger passed," Killian agreed. "But now it doesn't seem like that will happen. So you might as well come back. We could really use your help. _I_ could really use your help."

"Sure, what do you need me to do?" Emma questioned. But before she could get a response, she heard yelling on the other side of the line. "What in the world is this? Are you trying to escape? Give me that!" Then there was a cry of pain from Killian before the line went dead. "Killian?" Emma cried. "Killian? Are you all right? Oh, damn!"

It was then that the bell over the door of the detective agency jingled and Henry strode in. "Were you just on the phone?" He asked. "Did you get an interesting job?"

"It's not so much a job, no," Emma shook her head. "What would you think about going home?"

"Home?" Henry repeated. "You mean _home_ home? Storybrooke? But I thought we weren't allowed to go back there!"

"Well, that was the plan, but Killian just called and apparently there's some big emergency that they need me for," Emma sighed. "Why they didn't think of that before they sent me away, I have no idea."

"Do you have that talisman that Grandma and Grandpa gave you for when you needed to come back?" Henry asked. "Or did you lose it?"

"I didn't lose it," Emma assured him, grabbing the necklace with the unicorn charm out of her desk drawer and putting it on.

"Wait, don't do that yet!" Henry reminded her. "What about all our stuff? We can't just abandon it."

"Good point," Emma agreed. "But we have to hurry. Whatever Killian's going through down there, it sounds pretty bad."

"All right," Henry assured her. "I'll go as fast as I can."

* * *

When they arrived in Storybrooke, everything seemed dark and deserted. "What a surprise," Emma sighed. "When it looks like this, it's not a good thing. Now we have to find David and Mary Margaret so they can tell us what's going on." But as they looked around for her parents, they were suddenly grabbed.

"What are you doing out here?" Whispered a gruff voice right near Emma's ear. "You're not supposed to be out this time of night. And what are you yelling for those two for?"

"They're my parents!" Emma cried and elbowed him in the gut so he let her go. "Who the hell are you? Tell me!" She turned her head and faced the goons holding Henry. "And you…let go of my son!"

They both began punching and kicking their assailants, but the men were so large that it didn't do any good. Finally, they were hauled off to a much larger jail than the one Emma had left behind in New York, thrown in a cell, and the doors were closed behind them.

"What are you doing here, Swan?" Asked Killian's voice from the cell on her right. "You're supposed to be out rescuing us."

"Rescuing you from what?" Emma cried. "What the hell is going on here? And by the way, it's nice to see you too."

"Sorry I don't really have the patience for pleasantries, love, but I can't say I'm in a very good mood," Killian told her.

"Well, it's no reason to take it out on me!" Emma snapped back. She could just barely make him out in the dim light, but he was hurt. Really hurt, his whole face covered in blood and bruises. "Oh, my god," she said, reaching through the bars of his cell next to hers and touching his face. "What have they done to you?"

"Oh, nothing really," Killian shrugged it off, even though he had to be in terrible pain. "I've been through worse. It's just tokens of Blackbeard's self-esteem, that's all. I guess I should be glad that I haven't been disfigured yet."

"Why would you be disfigured?" Emma asked. "What's Blackbeard up to?"

"He's trying to discredit me," Killian told her. "He doesn't like the power he feels I have thanks to our relationship and he wants to destroy me."

"He wants to destroy you? Why?" Emma asked.

"Don't you remember? I'm a pirate!" Killian told her. "And a damn good one! Unless you don't have fifty people or more wanting to destroy you at any given time, you're not a pirate worth your salt! And while you've been gone, I've been…pirating, a bit more, for good, of course, so technically I guess you'd call it privateering. But it still made him mad and now, like I said, he's made his way here and is turning everyone against me, which is why I haven't tried to break out of here yet. I'm safer in here than I am out there, no question." Then he remarked, "You haven't, by chance, run into someone who looks exactly like me, have you?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "Henry and I just got here and a couple of goons grabbed us and threw us in this cell when they heard we were looking for my parents."

"Yes, you might not want to betray that you're loyal to them," Killian sucked in a breath. "No wonder you got locked up in here. Blackbeard doesn't take kindly to traitors. And that's how he views people who are loyal to Snow White and her prince."

"Oh, okay," Emma nodded. "Now, what is it that's going on with a goon who looks just like you?"

"Well, apparently, Blackbeard's goal is to get control by undermining your parents' leadership of the town, and to do that, he's taken advantage of the fact that I don't have everyone's goodwill, and made a villainous double of me that's running around and doing evil while I stay locked up down here," Killian told her. He sighed. "Do you really think I'm the one who's the weak link here? Am I nothing for you but trouble?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "I mean, okay. You've done some things that we really need to talk about, but if you don't intend on doing them anymore, that's good! And we'll show people that just as soon as we get this whole mess figured out. And we'll get this whole mess figured out once I find a way to get out of this damn jail."

"Good luck," Killian sighed. "It's not as easy as one would think."

"Ah, but remember," Emma smiled and pulled a nail file out of her purse, "I spent a lot of my life breaking in and out of things. I know what I'm doing." She popped the lock and then looked at Killian, taking his face in her hands after reaching through the bars of his cell. "You stay here," she said. "And tell my parents and anyone else Blackbeard has taken hostage that I'll get them out of here."

"Of course you will," Killian told her. "I have no doubt about that, Emma." They kissed and then she strode out of the cell just in time for the guard to come back and see her.

"You're not going to get me to go back in that cell," she told him.

"I wasn't going to ask you to," he told her. "Now that he knows you're here, he wants to have a talk with you."

"Good," Emma replied. "I'd like to have a word with him myself." She then began to protest as the guard grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the jail.

"Will you let me go?" She asked. "I can walk by myself. I'm not an idiot. I won't try and run."

They made their way to town hall with the guard walking so close behind her that sometimes, he would step on her ankles as they walked.

When they got inside the town hall, she was immediately taken to the mayor's office, where she found herself face to face with a grinning Blackbeard.

"Hello, Miss Swan," he greeted her. "Please, sit down."

"You better tell me what you're doing here," she said, her eyes narrowed. "And why you want to turn everyone against Killian. What can you gain from that?"

"Well, a sense of satisfaction, for one," Blackbeard replied. "I understand you've been away for some time. In that time, your true love returned to his more unsavory occupation, so to speak, and he made things very difficult for me. And I don't like that. I don't like that at all."

"And so you decided to take revenge by coming to the place where he's happiest and ruining it for him," Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "How petty."

"So he's allowed to cause trouble for me, but I can't for him?" Blackbeard chuckled. "Come now, Miss Swan. That's not right."

"You know what I'm going to ask you," Emma leaned forward. "How can I get you to stop this? There has to be a way."

"No," Blackbeard grinned. "Not an easy one, anyway."

"Fine," Emma stood up. "You wanna play hardball, we'll play hardball. I just hope you know what you're asking for."

"Oh, just looking at you, I think I do," Blackbeard smirked. "Don't worry about that."

"So how will this work?" Emma questioned before she left. "Will I be allowed to walk around free, or will one of those goons of yours drag me back to jail the second I set a foot outside of this building?"

"I promise they won't," Blackbeard replied. "Pirate's honor."

"I don't know how much trust I can place in that, but I'm willing to take my chances," Emma scoffed and left the town hall, walking into Granny's and sitting down at the counter. "You don't really think you'll be better under Blackbeard, do you?" She asked Granny, who was cooking burgers on the the grill with her back to Emma. "What have my parents done wrong? What makes you think that Blackbeard is better in comparison?"

"He's not," Granny told her as she paused and poured her a coffee. "Look Emma, I love your parents. Don't get me wrong. But you have to admit that they aren't always the best leaders they could be. They love you, they love little Neal, they love anyone they consider family. That's their main consideration, and that's good. But what about the rest of us? What are we supposed to do while your parents are off rescuing their nearest and dearest? If they want to be considered leaders of this town, they actually have to lead. They have to care about their people as well as their family and maybe put us first once in a while, and if they can't do that or they won't do it, maybe it's time for a shift in government."

"All right, but how do you plan on carrying out this change in government?" Emma asked. "Not a coup, I hope? And my parents won't be killed, will they?"

"Of course not," Granny shook her head. "They'll just be relieved of their town management duties so they can take the time to focus on what's really important to them. I think that would be better for all of us, don't you?"

"I suppose," Emma nodded. "But if they were to step aside as the town leaders, then who should lead in their place? Maybe we should set that up before we oust the current leadership."

"I thought the answer to that would be simple," Granny replied and reached under the counter for her crossbow. "You have a good head on your shoulders. Why don't _you_ take your parents' place?"

"Oh, thanks," Emma blushed. "I'm very flattered, but I don't know if I could be _mayor_. Chief of police, yes. Mayor? I don't know."

"Well, while you make up your mind, I'm gonna go shoot the imposter pirate," Granny told her. "I think I've had just about enough of him." She left and a few minutes later, Ruby emerged from the kitchen.

"Did Granny go and take on the goon who looks like Captain Hook?" She asked. "She said she was going to."

"You mean you know that's not Killian?" Emma asked. "Does _everyone_ know that?"

"I'm sure that people know that's not him by now," Ruby assured her. "Whether or not that matters when it comes to them believing that he's changed is another matter entirely. I'll be interested to see how the two of you handle that."

"We'll do our best not to disappoint you," Emma promised.

They waited and then Granny came in and told them, "I think I got him." He looked at Emma. "Would you like to come out here and make sure he's dead? Isn't that something law enforcement needs to do?"

"I'll come and see," Emma nodded. "Just a minute." She finished her coffee, then followed Granny out of the diner. Then she saw the man who looked like Killian sprawled out dead on the pavement with an arrow in his chest. "Oh, my god," she said, putting a hand over her mouth and sinking to her knees. "Oh, my god!"

"It's not him," Granny put a hand on her shoulder. "Remember that. It's not him."

"Right," Emma tried to catch her breath. "Right. He's fine. He's in the jail. I don't have to worry." But she tried not to look at the other Killian just the same because he still looked like the man she loved, even if she knew in her heart that it wasn't him, not really.

* * *

"There you are!" Emma yelled at Killian after getting the cell door open and throwing herself into his arms. "I'm just…I'm so glad to see you!"

"I'm glad to see you too, Swan," Killian replied. "But what…what inspired this show of emotion? What could have happened up there to make you miss me so much? To look at me as though you were seeing a dead man come back to life?"

"In a sense, I am," she said and took his hand, leading him out of the cell. "Like you told me, in an effort to turn the town against you, Blackbeard had someone enchant another man so that he was your double and then sent him out to cause trouble. And it worked for some people. Some of them believed that it was really you out there causing trouble in Storybrooke. That made the people side with Blackbeard just like he wanted cause they thought that my parents did nothing but bring evil people into town and set them amongst people that they were supposed to protect because of a family connection. Then Granny, she…she shot him with her crossbow. The man who looked like you. And even though…even though I knew you were down here safe, when I saw…when I saw the man who looked like you lying still and dead on the ground, my heart broke. I felt, even if it was only for a second, like something extremely important had been taken away from me." Her voice shook and she sniffled. "Then Granny reminded me that you were still down here safe and I ran like hell because I had to be sure. I had to see your face and be reminded that you lived."

"I'm here, Swan," He whispered into her hair as he squeezed her tight. "I'm here and I won't leave you."

Assured, she then went to check on her parents, who had decided to stay in their cells and wish her good luck.

"You can come with me, you know," Emma told them. "Don't you think you should since everyone looks to you to be leaders in this town?"

Snow and Charming looked at one another, nodded, grabbed each other's hands and followed Killian and Emma out of the jail.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy," Snow remarked as they stepped out into the nearly empty town square as the breeze blew softly in the dark night and ruffled their hair. "I would have thought that there would be guards everywhere."

"There's a reason for that, but do you really want to hear it?" Emma questioned. "It wasn't exactly what you'd call heroic but it needed to be done."

"I understand," David told her. "Sometimes we have to do things we're not proud of to save others. You shouldn't feel ashamed of that."

"Good," Emma nodded, her hand closing tightly around Killian's as she looked her father in the eye. "Thank you. Now, let's go to the town hall. That's where I saw Blackbeard last. Let's try and have a word with him…see if we can avoid bloodshed. If not, we'll have to fight."

"Best prepare for war now, love," Killian remarked. "If he went to this much trouble to pit the town against me, it'll take more than a talk to make him go away."

Apparently, nearly everyone else in town thought that too because Granny, Leroy, and every other denizen of Storybrooke was standing outside town hall with a weapon in hand.

"Okay, everyone!" Emma called when she saw them. "I know you're all prepared for a fight and that's good, but I was thinking that we might try and talk to Blackbeard first. Is everyone okay with that? And if talking doesn't work, I won't stop you all from protecting yourselves. Just stay here and wait for my signal, all right? If we need to fight, I'll come out and give you a nod."

It took some time, but she finally saw everyone agree and trust her enough to relax and lower their weapons.

"You're gonna go in and talk to them, Emma?" Killian asked. "Do you really think it's safe for you to go and face Blackbeard alone?"

"Well, if you go in there, he's going to try and kill you," Emma reminded him. "I've already talked to him once and come out all right. You stay here and work out a battle plan in case we need to fight, which we probably will, because Blackbeard doesn't seem like the peaceful type."

"Aye," Killian nodded. "You're right about that." He held her hand for a long time until he could finally make himself let her go, promising that he would stay out here with the people of Storybrooke, just as she asked him to.

"Thank you," Emma nodded and gave him a long kiss, causing some people in the crowd to groan.

"All right, enough of that!" Leroy called. "Get in there and start talking or let us start fighting!"

Emma reluctantly separated herself from Killian, saluted the waiting crowd, and step inside the town hall and made her way to the mayor's office. The second she saw Blackbeard, he grinned at her and shook his head.

"No," He said. "I know what you've come to ask me, Miss Swan, and my answer is 'No'."

"You won't leave Storybrooke in peace?" Emma asked. "Because you know I'm willing to give you that, in spite of all you've done. I don't want things to get violent unless they have to."

"Well, they'll have to," Blackbeard told her with a smile and removed his hat. "I'm not one to leave quietly. Didn't your lover mention that to you?"

"He mentioned it to me," Emma replied. "But I really didn't want to think you were that foolish and short-sighted. Then she stood up from the desk chair and sighed. "All right, fine," she got out and shook her head. "It's a shame it has to come to this, but if you wanna fight, we're prepared to fight."

"Good," Blackbeard smiled. "May the best man win, Miss Swan."

"Oh, the best _woman_ will," Emma assured him, a gleam in her eye. She then strode out of the town hall and signaled Killian and the others, who charged into the building and did battle with Blackbeard and the rest of his crew. Emma thought for a moment that Killian was going to come up with some excuse to stop her from fighting and was very pleased when he didn't.

"Well, look at you, Swan," he said with a chuckle as he watched her beat a member of Blackbeard's crew soundly over the head with an umbrella. "Whatever you've been doing all these years, it doesn't seem to have been something that made you lose any of your fighting skills."

"I was a private investigator in New York," Emma said as Killian punched another one of the pirates in the face and then drove his hook threw him, leaving him crumpled on the floor. "I was still catching bad guys, but it wasn't as exciting as catching bail jumpers. I kind of missed fights like this, to tell you the truth."

"Duck!" Granny called as an arrow from her crossbow went whizzing though the air over Killian and Emma's heads and hit a wall. "Did it hit anything that needs to be hit?" She asked.

"No, it hit a wall!" Emma called back as Killian held her close and shielded her head for a moment. "Shoot another one!"

"You don't need to tell me, twice," Granny assured her.

They all continued to fight until the secret weapon was released: Werewolf Ruby. Terrified of being torn to pieces by a large animal (especially when so many of their number were already wounded or dead,) the remainder of the crew fled, leaving Blackbeard alone to face the denizens of Storybrooke, who opposed him.

"I'll let you handle this," Emma told Killian and stepped back to sit in the mayor's chair with her feet on the desk. "You deserve it." She smiled, watched, and waited.

Killian and Blackbeard began a swordfight right there in the office, and despite the fact that Killian was fighting one handed, he was very adept, something that didn't surprise Emma. Just like it wasn't surprising when Blackbeard ended up dead on the floor as a blood-covered Killian dropped his sword and tried to get a breath.

"Well, that was something else," Emma remarked, coming to help him. "You sit down and I'll clean you up. Then, after we tell everyone Blackbeard is dead, we'll get you to the hospital. You think you can wait that long?"

"Of course," Killian panted. "It's just a scratch, love. I've been through worse."

"Yes, you have," Emma smiled and kissed his cheek before leaving to tell everyone else about Blackbeard's death and ask them to release those that had been imprisoned while she got Killian to the hospital.

* * *

Emma stayed at Killian's bedside, holding his hand in hers until she heard a knock on the hospital room door that made her get to her feet. "Who is it?" She called.

"It's us, Emma!" Snow answered. "May we come in? Or is Killian not fit for visitors?"

"I'm ready for visitors," Killian called. "Come in!"

A few seconds later, a grinning Snow, David, and Henry came into the room, smiles on their faces.

"I'm so glad you're all right!" Emma told them, giving them and her son hugs in turn. "That was a tough scrape we got out of there."

"And it all happened because of the two of you and how you managed the battle," Snow said, first to Emma, and then Killian in his bed. "I'm so proud."

"Me too," David agreed. "You showed real leadership ability getting the town through this."

"You were a real hero, Mom," Henry told her.

"I just did what I thought the two of you would do, and everyone in town helped," Emma blushed. "I mean, I did it a little differently than you would, but…"

"That's fine," David assured her. "You did what you had to do, and everyone is safe because of it. Thank you, Emma."

"You're welcome," Emma replied. Then they stood in silence for a moment, and then Emma just decided to blurt it out. "Since I helped save the town from Blackbeard, that could mean the two of you can step back from leading the town if you want. Spend more time with my brother. Would you like that?"

"Yeah," Snow nodded. "I really would. That would be nice."

"All right then," Killian told them all. "You two go spend time with your son and Emma and I will watch over the town for you. It won't be a problem."

"Do you think everyone will be okay with that?" Snow questioned. "Changes in leadership can be hard."

"Well, why don't we have an announcement here once Blackbeard and all his people have been cleared away?" Emma suggested. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see how easily the change in management will be." She turned to Killian. "You wanna be my deputy?" She asked.

"Yes," Killian nodded. "Of course, milady." He inclined his head. "I will do as you bid."

"Good," Emma grinned and leaned over him, kissing him gently. "That's what I like to hear."

* * *

Just as she'd promised her mother, Emma's announcement about the change in leadership of Storybrooke went over well, although Emma sensed some people still had reservations about Killian. Oh, well. They would change their minds in time. She knew that.

After the announcement, Snow gave Emma the keys to the mayor's office and everyone went inside to watch her settle in.

"How does that desk feel, Swan?" Killian asked with a smile. "Good?"

"Yes," Emma nodded. "I think I'm going to do lots of good here." She looked at the crowd that was squeezed into her office and trickling out into the hallway. "Well?" She asked them. "Do you think that a one-time bailbondsperson/private investigator/hereditary princess can help this town live happily ever after?"

"Yes," Killian whispered in Emma's ear as everyone else cheered. "Of course they do. Welcome back, Emma."

"Thank you," Emma returned as she hugged him and gestured for Henry to come out of the crowd so they could hug him too. "It's good to be back."

 **The End**


End file.
